Bred from the Holbra Pam branch of the Prudence family, Lakeside Ups Red Range VG-86 (see HI 7/2021) has bred more than a dozen influential sons. However, her Rubels son Ranger-Red has clearly had the biggest impact on the breed and has become the most important sire of sons of his day.
In April 2021 the star rose of a bull who was to revolutionize breeding. 3Star OH Ranger-Red, the Rubels son from the already-now legendary bull dam Lakeside Ups Red Range, overtook the lead on the international RH lists and didn’t even give a chance to his black and white competition in the Canadian home of his owner Semex. And Semex took the opportunities that a red sire of sons of this level had to offer. Ranger came to be used in all segments of the Holstein breed and now, two years later, they are here: the dominating sons of Ranger-Red. In red, in black, and polled!
Stephan Schneider, Han Hopman
With 3878 gLPI, he is still one of the highest genomic sires in Canada. Even two years after the debut of Ranger-Red, there are only 11 young sires that exceed the high level of the balanced red superstar. Mind that seven of these are sons of the sire himself. The same image is mirrored on the red top-lists. Ranger remains unchallenged atop the RH ranking in Canada. The only competition that comes close to him comes from the ranks of his own sons. The complete red Canadian top-5 is made up of Ranger-Red and his sons. And you will not be surprised when we tell you that Ranger-Red sons are among the leaders in the polled segment. ‘Due to his unique profile, the extreme genetic potential and, of course, the fact that he himself is red and white, we were able to use Ranger on a wide range of bull dams. The success of his sons in so many different market segments is the logical conclusion of that,’ shares Mike West of Semex.
HUNGARY
The red superstar, who is house at the Semex location in Hungary, was made available as sexed semen three months after his debut, in July 2021, through the FastStart program from Semex. Conventional semen was initially only used in the Semex breeding program to produce sons. By now, Ranger, who generates semen well, is widely available as conventional. ‘Ranger was and remains in demand in markets around the world,’ continues Mike West. ‘The most interest was seen in Europe, North America and Australia. Indeed, he really is a special bull. With his balanced conformation and solid production in combination with his Immunity+ branding he can offer the Holstein breed something that is not often seen. Through the fact that he is red and white, he can improve the genetics for both colours and is thereby even more influential.’ In fact, Ranger-Red is still among the best of the genomic sires for both colours. His gLPI is only 32 points lower than it was upon his debut in April 2021. With respect to his good production values (+1,237kg), high components (+.45%; +.19%), strong conformation (+9 Conf.; +6 MS; +10 F&L) and good fitness traits, nothing has changed. The stability of Ranger is also underlined by his US breeding values. His gTPI (2899) and his g$NM (920) have improved compared to two years ago by 2 and 139(!) points respectively.
SONS
To date, 4,544 male and female offspring from Ranger-Red have been registered. Of the sons, more than 60 have made it to AI studs. In Canada, 7 of the 10 highest genomic young sires are Ranger sons, including the complete top-6. Nevertheless, Ranger is not specialized for just one segment. On the LPI list published by CDN of a total of 53 Ranger sons there can also be found 7 polled sires, of which four offspring are from Vogue Mirand Red Wine-PP VG-85, a daughter out of Vogue Splendid Samara-PP. Of further interest is that more than half (30) of the purchased Ranger sons are black, which is unusual for a red sire, although it reflects the high level of the sire. Whoever analyzes the profiles of the sons quickly realizes what the breed can expect of them. One consistently outstanding characteristic is the conformation; 15 Ranger sons possess conformation breeding values of +10 or higher. The two highest, which both go back to Misty Springs Lavanguard Sue, are NAF Supertype-RC (+15 Conf.) and Progenesis Ambrose-RC, a son of Mystique Lambda Anis, whom we presented in the June issue of HI. On average, all Ranger sons test and unbelievable +8.9 for conformation. however, Ranger’s previously described breeding profile can also be seen in other traits of his sons. The production level, the high components and good fitness values wind through the large group of his sons like a red thread.
FULL BROTHERS
As Ranger was first used exclusively in the breeding program of his owner Semex, most of his sons are now also in possession of the Canadian company. With 16 sons currently listed, it is no coincidence that Ranger is the dominating sire int eh bull catalogue from Semex. Not yet available is the Canadian top trio of Zard-RC (Rud Zip family), Lateshow-RC (Ri-Val-Re Super Nadine) and Punch-RC (Outside Roz), although we still included them in our table of interesting Ranger sons because of the outstanding values. Alternatives to the three highest Ranger sons can be found in the Semex program and by now other AI studs also have more than enough. For instance, Zelda-RC is a full brother to Zard-RC and available from Black Silver. Further interesting full brothers are Hiccup-Red and Havefun, whose dam is AOT Mark Huckleberry from the Halo family. With Barn-Red and Redhot-Red, who go back to Morningview Super Roxy, there is another brother pair available from AI Total and Jetstream. The aforementioned Mystique Lambda Anis also has two Ranger offspring at AI studs. In addition to her son Ambrose-RC, her grandson Animation, who has similarly high conformation values, is a worthy alternative in a group of Ranger sons who, in terms of quality and quantity, cast a shadow over almost all of the currently successful sires of sons.
